The United League of Planets, the greatest peaceful union mankind has ever known, lies in shambles. The once proud coallition of humanity's greatest super-powers now wage bitter war across the cosmos. A devestating war threatens to tear apart all that has become of nearly two centuries of peace and prosperity among the rim worlds of the Third Exodus.

In grand, imperial fashion the Antarean Empire and its allies seek no less then the utter destruction and domination of the spaceways. Having grown disillusioned with the stagnant pseudo-democracy of the ULP and having been disgusted by the League's treatment of so-called "rebel-factions" (The Crowning Day Massacre), the Antarean Empire seceded from League. This precipitated a split, and eventually dissolution of the ULP as a single entity. The Antareans see themselves as the rightful heirs to supreme galactic power and regard their former League members as guilty of the crimes commited by past administrations .

Now, the scattered remants of the ULP are now locked in bitter struggle with the Antarean Alliance, the single largest "empire" in all known space. As the massive armadas of the depleted but still sizeable United Space Navy and Antarean Allied Navy grappled at one another, the rest of the galaxy watches with alarm, praying that the winning side will not turn its gaze outward once again. However ten years of war and tragedy have begun to take their toll as new galactic powers begin to emerge along with the discovery of new technologies.

Alliances are formed and broken, conspiracies hatched and foiled, all of this in the shadow of the longest recorded battle in mankind's space-faring history. Both sides have prepared daring and desperate bids to attain victory, but the question is no longer who will come out the winner, but rather how many will die ere the last battle is fought. A famous keeper of past knowledge put it best "In a war on heaven, angels fall first".

[b]Project Overview:
Angels Fall First: Total Conversion (Homeworld 2, Nexus)
• The AFF: TC represents an attempt to duplicate the naval tactics and combat represented in the fiction of the AFF universe. It is an experimental cross-platform project that attempts to emulate two different styles of play and control. The Homeworld 2 portion emulates large-scale fleet control/dynamics, whereas the Nexus portion is meant to emulate more focused small-squadron tactics and battle management. Content for both portions is developed in tandem is hoped to be entirely cross-portable between both engines.

Angel’s Fall First: Planet Storm (Battlefield 2, Half-Life 2)
• AFF: PS is a project meant to explore the realm of ground-combat in the AFF universe. It is unique in the fact that it will require a different sort of investment in terms of development material (character modeling/animation, terrain/level mapping, etc). However, this particular project has the amazing potential to be a truly unique spectacle involving the player more closely with the AFF universe. Further details will come as the project is evaluated.

Angel’s Fall First: The Game (Proprietary Engine)
• Essentially TBA, the purpose of AFF: TG is to explore the possibility of a standalone game based in the AFF universe using a proprietary engine. It will primarily be a two-part simulation involving facets of universal conquest, economic management, politics, construction/appropriation, fleet movement, and naval combat. Further details will be released later pending a full-scale evaluation of the project and its goals (all of which are subject to change).

Further details about these projects can be found by reading AFF's Universal Design Document (http://www.dendezyn.net/downloads/AFF_UDD_Design_Doc.doc).

Collaborations:
Angels Fall First is a cooperative sci-fi universe like no other. We draw our ideas from our [small] community and welcomce submissions and suggestions of all kinds. Currently, we're very very behind in several important areas of [3D] content development. At the moment, We are looking to illustrate our Universal Bible (http://www.dendezyn.net/downloads/AFF_UDD_Tech_Bible.doc) which is roughly 50 pages long and contains all sorts of information ranging from historical overviews, to naval insignias (with everything in between).

I realize that alot of projects come along looking for folks to simply do all of the work necessary to make a project look visually stunning, this is not the case with AFF. We put our money where our mouths (collectively) are, so have a look at a smattering of the art produced by our fantastic staff below:

Aside from the illustration of elements in our technical bible we are actively looking for folks to help out with the following:

Graphics:

An example of our existing art can be found here: http://www.dendezyn.net/affv4/media.php
Renders can be found in our moddb gallery here: http://mods.moddb.com/gallery/3009/

Player Concept Artist - The AFF project is more than just ships. For the purposes of cutscenes, fiction, and other related errata, we would like to put faces on the characters players will be confronted with in-game. Paqrt of AFF's goal is to connect players more closely with their characters and units. To this end, we are in need of of a concept artist familiar (and semi-experienced) in creating futuristic themed character art (mostly armed forces). Interested parties will have a general database of knowledge about the AFF universe to work with, and existing vehicle concept art. However, since we have no existing art of this kind, he/she will have the difficult task of defining the art style for this portion of the project.

Secondary Vehicle Concept Artist - We have several distinct playable sides in AFF with widely varying style's of ship. Our current concept artist, orbluvion, cannot possibly cope with creating the volume of craft needed from scratch. We are looking for a concept artist to takeover the design and style creation for the "Antarean Empire" faction of the project. Interested parties should note that Orbluvion has been helpful in creating a variety of AISN ships which can be used as a creative base for developing the style of the faction. As a result, anyone interested in helpng us with this quandary will not be required to come up with a completely original style should they so choose.

Terrestrial Concept Artist - The AFF project encompasses ground locations as well (for uses in fiction, cgi cutscenes, and a possible ground-based "child" project). We are looking for an artist familiar with creating terrain/urban portraits (including aerial shots, and planets). It is likely any interested Applicants would be asked to work from text based descriptions as few other precedents currently exist for such work.

Lead Concept Artist - In order to increase workflow efficiency, we are looking for a talented lead concept artist to help unify the art of the project. This is no easy task, a serious applicant would be asked to coordinate all concept artist, produce art of his/her own, and generally work towards creating a consistent style and quality of art for the entire project. Only serious applicants with both art and management experience will be considered (this is a vital position key to the future development of this project).

Notes for prospective artists:
*a typical design requires large(r) 3/4 shot and several smaller (less detailed) isometric views. This is our standard for any new concept, in order to help the modelers do their jobs in a reasonably effective manner.

*Any folks interested in serously assisting us should either direct [me] to an example of the individual's existing body of work, and/or email such submissions to [myself] if no such online venues are available.

Modeling:

*You may have noticed a glut of modelers in the roster, however, due to real life constraints, many of our members have found themselves unable to find time to assist this project. As a result, we are still looking to make our alpha/beta deadlines as well as fill out the site with media. To this end, we are looking for folks to help us fill a variety of creative and managerial positions. In general we are looking for modelers familiar with Maya and/or 3DSMax/Lightwave/XSI(preferably with texturing experience, though not required). Most of the work we aim to create (renders etc) is designed to be cross-portable between a variety of engines and promotional platforms (such as static renders, cutscenes, etc).

Player Modeler - This position can be thought of as both independant and dependant on the co-position of player artist. For the moment, we are looking for someone to creat hi-polygon renders of characters in the AFF universe. Work will be limited to perhaps 4-5 characters, mostly headshots for use in-game (HW2/Nexus). Beyond that, anyone interested in helping fill this position will be called on to assist with whatever cgi cutscenes we include, as well help with a possible FPS portion of the project.

[i] Vehicle Modeler - We are looking for (3-4) talented, serious modelers with some experience in creating and texturing [space] vehicles. AFF has a unique [sci-fi] visual flare (thanks to our concept artist orbluvion) that we wish to suitably capture in-game. Any individuals interested in assisting with this should be aware that they will be asked to generate relatively detailed models (between 800 and 15000 polygons) based on existing concept art. Due to a backup in our art pipeline (which are working hard to remedy), isometric shots may not be available for all vessels and vehicles. As a result, anyone seriously considering this request will be expected to be able to demonstrate a suitable amount of creativity during the modeling process.

Lead Modeler - Very similar to the lead artist and just as vital. We are looking for a talented modeler/texture artist who has experience managing a team of modelers. Individuals interested in this position must be able to coordinate small groups effectively, motivate and manage the modeling process (pipeline), and overall help unify the style of models produced for the project. We already have around 15 finished models (textureless), so cleaning and optimizing these for the UV process is a must, and most likely the first job to be assigned to anyone filling this position.

Texture Artist - The folks previously helping the texturing side of the pipeline have fallen victim to the disease known as "real life" and are currently out of commision for the time being. We are looking for folks experienced with the UV process and hi-quality sci-fi texture creation and application to lend their help and support to the project. Anyone interested will be working hand in hand with our modelers to generate the most appropriate textures for the ships to be included in our project. In the short term (2-3 months) we hope finish texturing 4-5 of our already finished vessels.

All serious submissions should be sent to me, here is my contact information:
email: alex@dendezyn.net
MSNM: monkeysma@hotmail.com
AIM: monkeysma@aol.com

Overall it our goal to finish the project in a timely fashion and to a quality not usually seen from amateur works. Moreover, we feel that the FPS and especially RTS communities (and perhaps gaming as a whole) suffers from a lack of quality, original projects. AFF hopes to redefine what is possible to achieve with these engines while at the same time growing as a universe. We just hope people are interested in what we are trying to do and have a good time viewing, reading, and playing our creations.

Thanks in advance to anyone kind enough to donate their time and energy to our lil' universe, and we really appreciate our fan's support over the last couple years of development.

We've received a couple nice offers so far, hopefully they will bare fruit in the near future. So, for the moment, I'm leaving the job listings as they are (but this may change soon). Overall, I'm thrilled to be a part of the CGTalk community, dunno why I didnt join sooner. :)

Alex Drake

04-18-2005, 10:48 PM

*picked up a pair of concept artists, hopefully I'll be able to post some new artwork soon.

Slso, word has reached me from across the pond (england) that our project received a mention in PC Gamer UK! Unfortunately I have yet to see the issue, so if anyone here happens to reisde in bloody ol' Britain and has access to a scanner, we'd be ever so grateful for a scan. :D

Alex Drake

04-23-2005, 02:26 AM

Something new and Planet Storm related from our newest concept artist Daemoria. I'll be doing my best to keep this thread updated with new art as its released. :)

We're nothing if not ambitious. And actually, its not as bad as you think. Most of the models are cross-portable, so content built for one engine usually can trickle over easilly. In the case of Planet Storm, things have really started to pick up!

softdistortion

04-25-2005, 03:42 AM

we should talk about this on MSN some time...I'd really like to get some input from your experience to maybe help us on our desire to eventually put or work into a MOD. We've had 3 different people attempt it but none got very far... I'm starting to doubt that anyone has got a decent HL2 mod working.. :banghead: :)

Alex Drake

04-25-2005, 01:20 PM

All of my relevant contact info is in the first post, so IM me anytime.

As for running a mod (or several), the best answer I can give is; be patient and willing to learn to do things by yourself. The reaosn why this is so important is because theres no guarantee that anyne will care about your project, and mods are heavilly dependant on the communities of the games they serve. Most people won't even pay you any mind if you dont have some initial burst of quality stuff to show that you are serious (hey, sounds alot like collab projects around here, :) ). On top of this, your best to engage people. I don't know why I Shirow related mod wouldn't fare well in HL2 (I have some ideas, but I think Shirow's work is so cool that I cant fathom it), but I personally just work on things in my own spare time and wait for the real pros to take interest/notice (I tend not to entertain scrubs for very long). If your project is compelling enough, it should be able to support itself. :)

softdistortion

04-25-2005, 07:44 PM

hehe...it does sound alot like the collabs in here...In the imortal words of Scotty- "...the engines canna take no more!"

Alex Drake

04-28-2005, 05:13 AM

ALOT of progress on just about every single front of our project.

First off, out new mapper Witek has been busy taking an aggregate of our architectural sketches and has begun producing an initial map for us;

Now that your PC has exploded, I'd like to note that we STILLneed help with most of the above positions. I'll be updating this thread periodically with more of our work as its developed, just thought the CGTalk community deserved an update.

:D

faultline

01-31-2006, 09:52 PM

Those glamour shots are stunning. :thumbsup: Will be watching your progress closely.

dudethedreamer

02-01-2006, 05:18 AM

Wow, i dont usualy like space theme anything but this game is hot. Its a game right?

Alex Drake

02-01-2006, 05:44 AM

Its the definition of a colalborative media project. We make art, we make music, we write, we mod, and we are also developing a game engine. In truth we're really just trying to build a vibrant living universe so we can do what we want with it. All the models you see are low-poly game-quality art, including the stuff in the glamour renders. Currently, no existing game engine can do everything we want to include, hence the multiple mod projects and or our own R&D.

What we really appreciate is more folks coming to paly in our world and help create content they want to see. While help is nice, our goal is really to build a community of folks interested in what we do. The fact that much of our design process, concept work, and general development is updated and expanded on a daily basis makes it easy for us to get active feedback on what we're doing.

Taltos

02-01-2006, 07:46 PM

hi alex!

i just registered for cgtalk, and first thing i find is a thread about AFF. i have to say i'm delighted. i've been following progress over at the nexus modding forum, i really like the project. :thumbsup:
unfortunately, my skills are not (yet) evolved enough for your level of work, but if it comes to that some day maybe i can still help out.
anyway, i have to say i really like the (space vehicles') concept art style, esp. the anubis and mut class drawings! i will definitely try to build my skills in that direction..

well, thumbs up, and keep up the good work!

Sargoth

06-08-2006, 12:51 PM

Hi peeps

i see that Alex hasn't been posting an update in a long time.

We have a new website - Http://www.dendezyn.net/affu (http://affu.dendezyn.net/)

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